Deism

Deism

• God: Deism is a worldview that asserts that there is a God but God no longer operates in the universe (there are no supernatural events such as miracles). In short, God is like the unknown “watchmaker” who wound up a clock (the universe and all of existence) eons ago but now stands back and allows the clock to tick away by itself. In short, God designed everything to run independent of Him through natural causes. Furthermore God is an absolute unity – He is not multiple gods like polytheists believe nor is He a Trinity like Christians believe.[1]
• Humanity: To deists, humanity is created in the image of God and are personal, rational and free creatures.[2] However, humans can not communicate with God directly but rather can only look to nature and its grounded laws and morals for guidance.
• Salvation: There really is no form of salvation in deist thought. No concept that God is going to miraculously take humanity from its plight of sins and evil. The only form of “salvation” that would exist is capable through human reasoning.
• Authority: The authority that guides all humans is scientific laws and the Natural Law that was established by God Himself. (Natural Law is that law that is eternal, universal, grounded in nature itself – just like scientific laws are grounded into nature itself. It is that set of laws that tell us in our reasoning skills what is right and wrong, and what inalienable rights and duties we have). “Human reason is the basis for natural law only insofar as it participates in God’s eternal reason. In this sense, violating the dictate of reason amounts to violating the law of God.”[3]
• Time: In general, deists hold that time is linear (goes in a line). In short, they assert that time is going towards an end goal and that all history has a purpose. However, deists assert that God does not intervene directly in time with acts of revelation or with miracles – rather God established from the beginning how things would pan out and then just left everything to its own devices.[4]
• Jesus Christ: Deists believe different things about Jesus. Some believe that He never existed – that He was just a mythological person. However, the majority take the approach that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical person, however He did not perform miracles nor is He the way of salvation – He was just a good religious teacher.

For Further Study (for all those Nerds, like myself, who want to know more):

• Look at this wikipedia page about Deism, it has a lot of information on its historical and philisophical background, as well as a list of some famous deists throughout history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
• This is a website founded by and for modern day deists. I recommend this site simply so you can get a feel for how deists approach their beliefs today and also for you to look at the arguments deists pose against Christianity. http://www.deism.com/